Vintage Sewing Box
  • Home
    • FAQ
    • Terms and Conditions
  • About
  • Original Works
  • Blog
  • Free Patterns
    • Grandmother's Rose Garden Quilt
    • Scissors Case
    • Pincushions
    • Needle Book
    • Patchwork Flowers
    • Mini Quilts
    • Butterflies
    • Dresden Flower
    • Christmas
    • Hexagon Templates
    • Children's Items
    • Flex Frame Purse
  • Video Tutorials
    • English Paper Piecing Tutorials
    • Embroidery Stitches
    • Sewing with Scraps
    • Hexagon Sewing Case Tutorials
  • Shop
    • Patterns
    • Kits
    • Pre-Cut Fabrics
    • Sewing Boxes
    • Notion Pouches
    • Thread >
      • Hand Quilting Thread
      • Embroidery Thread
      • EPP Thread
    • Hexiform
    • Glue Pens
    • Scissors
    • Needles
    • Pins
    • Thread Organisation
    • Mats, Hoops and Marking Tools
    • Thimbles
  • Stitch School

Starting your first quilt - Part 2 - Materials

17/4/2019

0 Comments

 
I've been sharing on Instagram a small quilt I've been making and I think it's perfect for beginners. It is the ideal size to be used in a pushchair/buggy or for a child to use with dolls and teddies as it measures just 26 inches wide and 34 inches long. I've created it using a simple nine patch block and I repeated that throughout the quilt, separating the blocks with sashing. 
Picture
What's nice about this quilt is that you can easily make it larger if you wish and also, the nine patch block looks more complex than simple squares, but it really isn't hard to do at all. As a beginner, you'll learn some useful techniques that will have you feeling confident enough to tackle your next quilt. 
Picture
It's entirely up to you how you make this quilt. You can play around with fabrics, colours and size. To keep it simple, I will provide a list of what I used.
  • A jelly roll - a jelly roll comprises of 2.5 inch wide strips of fabric. Each strip is usually 44 inches long. For each block I used two different fabrics to contrast with each other. Therefore you will need a 12.5 inch strip of one colour and a 10 inch strip of the other for each block. These need to be cut into 2.5 inch squares which is so easy to do because your strips are already 2.5 wide! There are 12 blocks so 24 colours or different fabrics.
Picture
  • Sashing- I used cream cotton for this. Each sashing strip is 2.5 inches wide. You need 16 strips of sashing that are 6 inches long and 2.5 inches wide, and 5 strips that are 27 inches long and 2.5 inches wide. You can always make your strips a little bit longer and trim them afterwards, just to be on the safe side. 
  • Binding - You will need 110 inches of binding. 
  • Backing fabric - a piece of fabric that is 29 inches x 37 inches. This allows for some extra wiggle room. 
  • Wadding -  cotton or polyester wadding measuring 29 x 37 inches. 
  • Thread
  • A sewing machine
  • A rotary cutting
  • A cutting mat
  • A ruler
Picture
That's it! Gather your supplies and I will be back with the next steps - how to piece the quilt top. Happy sewing!
0 Comments

Starting your first quilt - Part 1 - Terminology

11/4/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
I'm starting a new series of blog posts aimed at anyone who would like to make a quilt for the first time and is not sure where to begin. There is already a wealth of information out there but it can be quite overwhelming. So my aim is to break it all down and to make it easy to understand and follow. This post will explain some quilting terminology and there will be subsequent posts about the materials you need, how to make a simple quilt top, how to turn it into a quilt and how to bind the edge.
Picture
As with any craft, quilting comes with an array of terminology that might be confusing to you if you are entering the world of quilting for the first time. So let's simplify some of the common terms.
​
1. Quilt - a quilt is made up of three layers, a quilt top which is created using some sort of patchwork, the middle layer which is some sort of wadding or batting which gives the quilt its warmth, and a backing fabric which is typically one single piece of fabric.

2. Piecing - this means the creation of a quilt top, by cutting fabrics into smaller pieces and joining them back together again in a particular design. This is typically done on a sewing machine. 

3. English paper piecing - a style of patchwork that is done by hand. It involves cutting fabrics into small shapes and wrapping them around paper templates, joining them together with other shapes to form a design and  removing the paper templates when the quilt top is complete.

Picture
4. Binding - a strip of fabric that is wrapped around the edge of the quilt to conceal the raw edges. 
5. Blocks - Quilts can be large so they are usually made from small segments that are joined together. These smaller parts are called blocks and they are usually square.
Picture
5. Quilt sandwich - this refers to the layering up of your quilt, comprising of your quilt top, your wadding and your backing fabric. The wadding is the 'filling' and the quilt top and backing are the 'bread'.

6. Basting - a temporary way of keeping your layers together whilst they are being quilted. You can baste them together using pins, spray glue or tacking stitches which will be removed when the quilting is done.

7. Quilting - this is the act of using the stitches to sew through all three layers to quilt them together. This can be done by machine or by hand. 

8. Walking foot - a special sewing machine foot that helps to guide the layers of fabric through your machine in a way that prevents them from slipping. This foot is essential for quilting, unless your machine has a built in foot like mine does. 

9. Free motion - this is when you drop the feed dogs on your sewing machine (the teeth that pull the fabric through the machine) and using an open toe free motion foot, you can quilt through the layers in any direction in which you move the fabric yourself. This opens up a world of design possibility. 

10. Long arm quilting- this is done on a special, huge machine. The quilt is put on a frame and can be quilted with larger, all-over designs. This is a professional finish although some home sewers do have these machines.

11. Applique - the application of fabric shapes to a backing fabric. They can be sewn by hand, turning the edge of the shapes under first or they can be stuck to the backing fabric with either glue or iron-on fusible webbing and then sewn around the raw edge. Applique is a lovely technique for creating pictorial quilts.

12. Sashing - fabric strips that are sewn between the blocks of the quilt to space them out and create a clean, fresh look.

13. Low volume - this refers to fabrics that have a more neutral colour palette and have a less busy pattern. Low volume fabrics are important for creating contrast in your quilt design and allowing intricate pieced designs to really stand out. 

14. Fussy cutting - when you cut your fabric into smaller pieces for patchwork, rather than cutting anywhere, you can pick a motif or part of the fabric that you want to be the focus of your shape, and centralise it. Fussy cutting offers a lot of scope for creating new designs from your fabric and you can create very intricate patterns this way, but it inevitably creates more fabric waste. 

And that's it for now! If you have come across any more terms you are unsure of then please leave them in the comments and I will try to answer what they mean.
I will be back soon with another post about getting started with your first quilt.
Thanks for reading and happy sewing!
0 Comments
Forward>>
    Picture

    Follow me on Instagram!

    View this post on Instagram

    A post shared by Emma Jones - EPP & Embroidery (@vintagesewingbox) on Oct 20, 2019 at 8:34am PDT

    About the Author
    My name is Emma and I love all things sewing, especially EPP. My little blog is the place where I document what I'm making. I hope you enjoy reading what I'm up to! All opinions are my own and I only share things that I think you will love. Thank you for taking the time to stop by. 

    Archives

    May 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018

    Categories

    All
    Block Of The Month
    Book Tour
    Crochet
    Embroidery
    English Paper Piecing
    Fabric Shops
    Family
    Festival Of Quilts
    Foundation Paper Piecing
    Free Pattern
    Giveaway
    Help For Beginners
    Instagram
    Magazine Feature
    Mental Health
    My Designs
    Organisation
    Pattern
    Personal
    Pinterest
    Plans
    Quilting
    Review
    Sewing For Children
    Sewing Room
    Shop
    Stitch Along
    Sustainable Sewing
    Swap
    Tutorial
    Vintage Fashion
    Vintage Sewing
    Workshops
    Youtube

    RSS Feed

Copyright Vintage Sewing Box 2022
privacy_policy.pdf
File Size: 56 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

  • Home
    • FAQ
    • Terms and Conditions
  • About
  • Original Works
  • Blog
  • Free Patterns
    • Grandmother's Rose Garden Quilt
    • Scissors Case
    • Pincushions
    • Needle Book
    • Patchwork Flowers
    • Mini Quilts
    • Butterflies
    • Dresden Flower
    • Christmas
    • Hexagon Templates
    • Children's Items
    • Flex Frame Purse
  • Video Tutorials
    • English Paper Piecing Tutorials
    • Embroidery Stitches
    • Sewing with Scraps
    • Hexagon Sewing Case Tutorials
  • Shop
    • Patterns
    • Kits
    • Pre-Cut Fabrics
    • Sewing Boxes
    • Notion Pouches
    • Thread >
      • Hand Quilting Thread
      • Embroidery Thread
      • EPP Thread
    • Hexiform
    • Glue Pens
    • Scissors
    • Needles
    • Pins
    • Thread Organisation
    • Mats, Hoops and Marking Tools
    • Thimbles
  • Stitch School